The man charged with defending Goldman Sachs's battered public image, British-born chief spokesman Lucas van Praag, has become a cult figure on Wall Street with a reputation for firing cerebral, elegantly worded nuggets of scorn at anybody who dares to attack the financial institution.

Dubbed "Goldman's rococo PR prince" by one New York newspaper, Van Praag, 60, began attracting attention on the blogosphere in January when he retorted to a rumour about the possible resignation of chief executive Lloyd Blankfein by remarking: "It is preposterous that the Wall Street Journal would even consider publishing such effluent."

Van Praag rejected another negative story as "a chimera produced by a febrile mind", while inaccurate predictions of a $100m bonus for Goldman's boss were greeted with: "There's speculation, and there is stupidity. This speculation transcends the simply stupid and takes it to an entirely new level."

A Durham university graduate, Van Praag arrived at Goldman Sachs after a period as an officer in the merchant navy and a decade at the London public relations agency Brunswick. He was promoted partner in 2006, joining the 400 or so top Goldman executives who get the most generous slice of the firm's multibillion-pound bonus pool.

Criticised by some as condescending and overly dismissive, Van Praag's future has been called into question by certain business pundits. Amid public calls for austerity on Wall Street, some feel that Van Praag's style is out of step.

In response, New York magazine has established a tongue-in-cheek "save Lucas van Praag" campaign. And in a somewhat double-edged tribute, a fake Twitter account appeared this week under Van Praag's name, churning out high-handed attacks on "dreadfully dim" journalists with "ill fitting suits".

Despite his haughty reputation, Van Praag is respected by many financial journalists for his willingness to engage in substantive discussion on issues avoided by other Wall Street banks. Shrugging off the criticism, Van Praag told the Guardian that he was not bothered by brickbats: "The approach we've adopted to media coverage is that we aggressively rebut and refute reports or commentary that we believe are wrong. And if you want it to be noticed, you've got to make it notable."